LETTER OF SUPPORT by Chris Evans This is both a personal note to Andy Gibson as well as an open letter to AZers. You all read in AZ 10 that being editor can be frustrating, and often a financial and time-consuming drain. Submissions don't make the deadline and that means re-doing the mag when late stuff comes in. Well I propose that Andy and/or whoever continues as editor take some leeway and don't get pressured by the whole thing. Just wait for enough contributions to come in, and then publish. If the mag is a few weeks late, who cares? It's the last one in the world ... there's no competition! WAC and AMOS USA are both months late! ... WAC hasn't published since the summer of 95. And actually, I haven't read any complaints about late issues ... Andy keeps apologizing for it, but maybe he's the only one worried about it. So "Don't Worry Andy, Be Happy", and the first person to complain about it being late we'll appoint as the new editor. That'll rattle his sprites. And I hope no one has a problem with the cost of AZ. It's a bargain, dudes, compared to the PC C++ groups. The Computer Game Developers Association in the USA is several hundred dollars a year. Registration for their convention was $600! To buy into one of the successful game engines is $5000 U.S. If you want to talk to these people they're on CompuServe in the Game Developers Forum, type GO GAMDEV to get there. And the degree of coding assistance is not much different than when you ask the AZ guys a question. PD C++ disks are the equivalent of 3 UKP each. It's a jungle. So support AZ dudes ... without this kind of group you're on your own. And pay for it ... the guy's going broke. Chris Evans Internet: Chris.Evans@onlinesys.com Reply from Andy Gibson: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanx for those kind words Chris. First of all I must stress that I am NOT giving up my position as Editor just yet! I'll see out another few issues now due to the fact that I have had more help than ever before from a sub ed! Dave Kirk has been taking time out from his own projects to help myself put this issue of Az together and we seem to be a great team. With Dave's support (which I appreciate very much), I can continue to work on Az as well as my own money making projects. :^) For those of you that think I make money from Az, you're wrong! Sure I get paid a small royalty payment. Consider this though: I have to give away about 30 of my own disks each issue I have to buy Jiffy bags and stamps I have to buy Disk Labels I have to pay for Ink for my bubblejet cart I have to sit for hours on-end writing letters to every contributor I have to buy paper for these letters also I'm sitting copying disks for hours and testing for errors I was coding, editing, testing Az in my spare time and writing articles for it too I had to fully justify ALL text adverts to keep Az neat and tidy Draw ClipArt, Add colour codes, Add comments etc. Wear and tear on my printer and disk drive Electricity (well, erm, OK! Maybe not so much - but it is a cost!) Get the idea? The next time somebody moans about how I must be making a fortune from Az can just FUCK OFF (and that's me being polite)! Do me a favour and stop moaning. You are getting Az for FREE! I'm sorry I cannot afford to send out hundreds of disks and stamps to all contributors. If I could, I would. Steve passed Az onto myself becuase HE was losing money. I was under the impression he was making a fortune too! That was until I took over of course. BARST! :-( I am not rich (far from it), so please keep sending in the correct disks and postage. I know I keep saying this. I do still send Az to peeps that don't send the correct amount, but this WILL have to stop. Most peeps are making the effort, so why don't you? It's not fair on the others, is it? I'm a fair bloke and if you're not happy with something in Az, let me know and I'll remove it or alter it etc. Az is YOUR mag. If you don't tell me what you want, I'll just keep pushing out Az As-Is!!! It's time for you to have your say ..... And a little word to Chris: I know I keep apolagising for Az being late each issue. You say I've not to worry! If I don't worry or care about Az and how it is released and when, would there be any point in me continuing? I've gotta worry, after all, if I don't, who will? Would you rather have a caring Editor who loves Az and wants it to the best he can or some spotty twat that just bungs it all together and doesn't give a toss how it looks or when it's relese? I think I know your answer. I'll prove to you just how much I love Az and working with you all: I was recently asked if I wanted to give up Az to release another Amos mag! The deal was that I could do whatever I wanted and also pich contributors from Az!!! I would be in total control of how the mag would look and feel. In fact, I would probably make more money from it too! Did I take this dude up on his generous offer? I think not. I'll stick with Az until it dies. I may not remain as editor for too long as I do have other things I wanna move onto eventually, but for now, Az will stay alive. That's devotion for ya. Of course I couldn't put Az together without everyone's support. I appreciate every contributor's articles and source code. I don't always get time to look at everything (hence the need for a reliable sub-ed), I can only do as much as I can. I've been coding Az since issue 5 and as you know, I took over as Ed during issue 7. (Issue 6 was my apprentiship as Steve called it) I've been here a long long time and I think Az has been getting better each issue. Yeah, OK! There has been some shit source code thrown in to fill up the last few bytes of the disks from time to time, but most of it had never been seen before by new contributors to Az. As long as someone has a use for it, I'll throw it in. Fair enough? Az will probably be on 2 disks from now on and we'll keep the 3 disk issues as specials. Such as XMas issues etc. Az will be released every three months until further notice! (maybe sooner if enough contributions are sent in) If you wanna moan about that, it's yer own fault! (not everyone) Peeps are just too late in sending their stuff in now, so Az is about a month behind (almost), so to help get it back on schedule, it shall only be relesed every three months.